IOSR Journal Of Humanities And Social Science (IOSR-JHSS)

Volume 19, Issue 9, Ver. II (Sep. 2014), PP 67-70

e-ISSN: 2279-0837, p-ISSN: 2279-0845.
www.iosrjournals.org

Theory and Problems of Translation Studies

Dr. N. B. Shama Bharathi
Lecturer in English, SVGM Government Degree College, Kalyandurg-515761,Ananatpur-District,Andhra
Pradesh-India

Abstract: It is an introductory, and it will present a brief background to the importance of transcultural
communication. It also presents the types and problems of translation, objectives, the scope and the
methodology underlying the present study
Key words: Interaction, translation, communication, cultural and linguistic heritage
I.
Introduction
Mankind all over the world speak and communicate their feelings in different and numerous languages
and dialects, which differ from community to community and from region to region. Interaction and mutual
understanding cannot take place among different communities speaking thousands of different, mutually
unintelligible languages throughout the world; this creates problems of communication and hence the need
arises for communication among different linguistic communities of the world through an alternative means for
conveying information from one language to another. Translation can fill this gap effectively and promote
interstate, internationaland transcultural communication. Historically languages have been transmitted from
one generationto another by habit formation and not by heredity.
Even though the term translation cannot be defined precisely, scholars and theorists have attempted to
describe it. Some of these definitions are presented below.
Dr. Samuel Johnson defined translation as involving the process of change into another language,
retaining the sense which is indeed a basic objective. 1
Modifying this statement A.H. Smith maintains: To translate is to change into another language retaining as
much of the sense as one can.2
J.C. Catford defines translation from a linguistic point of view: Translation may be defined as the
replacement of textual material in one language (SL) by equivalent textual material in another language (TL). 3
The performance of translation work is an endeavor to mediate between different cultures, languages,
texts and nationalities. Hence translation as an activity means moving from one language to another which
again means the replacement of textual material in one language by appropriate textual material from another
language.4
Translation has become an utmost necessity for the educational, social, economic, scientific,
technological and political developments at the global level for maintaining international and mutual amity.
Each community has its own language and each language has its speech community and its own cultural and
linguistic heritage. So translation is a means for initiating and promoting crosscultural communication. In this
way translation can play a crucial role in bringing closer divergent sociocultural groups by enabling mutual
appreciation of their cultures and information. Thus a translator renders a noble service to mankind by providing
access to texts, of eternal value, such as the Vedas, The Upanishads, The Meemamsas and Darshana
Sastras, The Geetha, The Bible, The Koran and all other literatures of wisdom, knowledge and science;
and all these works have been made accessible to humanity solely through their translation into different
languages of the world. The credit for this dissemination goes to the translators and their sponsors. Its
importance in general and with reference to India in particular is mentioned as follows:
(1)
In the words of K.M. George Modern transport and communication technology have advanced so
much in recent years that the globe has shrunk into a village. Hills and valleys, waters and forests have
lost their significance as barriers owing to the advanced means of transport. But languages are still
barriers in communication and the solution is still translations. Hence the need for translation is
imminent.5
(2)
India has 18 officially recognized languages since 1992. India is believed to have 1652 mother tongues,
of which thirty three are spoken by people numbering over a lakh. The Indian languages now in use
have evolved from different languages families corresponding more or less to the different ethnic
elements that have come into India from the dawn of history. To keep all these diverse language
communities in mutual harmony and ensure a smooth transaction of affairs on socioeconomic socio
political, cultural and scientific fronts throughout the nation, communication among these groups
including interaction and exchange of knowledge, information and opinion are all imperative.
www.iosrjournals.org

67 | Page

Theory and Problems of Translation Studies

Translation is one of the tools that can effectively contribute to this goal. Translation in India is a socio
cultural necessity for political and ideological integration 1.
(3)
The English language has been recognized as an Associate Official Language by the Constitution of
India in view of its role in mass communication and its function as a medium of instruction for higher
education and research. It has also been the language of Science and Technology, international
diplomatic relations, trade and commerce. Hence there is a need for translation of data and texts from
English into Indian languages and viceversa.
(4)
The practical utility and importance of translation has been growing in India for the following reasons:
i)
At the University level the medium of instruction is changed into regional languages in some
faculties. As a number of source texts are available in English alone in many disciplines,
translating these texts into regional languages is imperative not only for enriching and expanding
the regional languages but also for meeting the requirements of higher education. Many of the
Universities have either introduced, or are planning to introduce special courses in translation. The
press and media are rapidly expanding in regional languages.
ii)
The press and media are rapidly expanding in regional languages. The journalists who work under
deadlines have to be aware of translation process, as they have to translate and edit national and
international news available largely in English, and make the information accessible to people with
no loss of time.
iii)
The multilingual urban societies need translation as a tool for more effective and meaningful
communication. Otherwise there is a possibility of misunderstanding and mutual distrust among
different sections of society.
iv)
With a view to promoting cultural harmony the Sahitya Academy, New Delhi, is encouraging
translations of regional literatures from one language to another and into English and viseversa.
v)
With the fast growth of information technology and Internet media, translation has become an
immediately felt need.
vi)
As the educational technology, which is available only in English, has been introduced in school
education; and the source materials in educational technology which are available only in English,
and they are to be translated into all the regional languages of India.
vii)
In a democratic country like India legislative bodies like parliament and state assemblies do
transact the affairs in the national language Hindi and also in other regional languages. In this
context automatic data processing and machine translation have become the need of the hour.
Hence, the methods of sophisticated machine translations have to be developed.
viii)
There is a necessity to promote translation as a subject from secondary school level to post
graduate level, so as to enable the students to creatively interact while engaged in translation.
In view of the abovementioned factors, a study of the practice and problems of translation acquires
significance. It may not be out of place to quote here the views of Alien Tate who emphasized the inevitability
of translation inspite of its problems and impossibilities. Tate observes: Translation is forever impossible and
for ever necessary.1

II.

Method:

In the twentieth century, a radical change occurred in translation theory arid practice as new concepts
and communication had developed. A number of theoreticians, scholars, scientists and psychologists have
suggested various principles of translations. Accordingly, different types and methods of translations have been
explored. Some of them are briefly discussed below:

III.

Types Of Translation:

Translation based on purpose:

These types of translations have the purpose or end of the translation as the translation as the basic
need. For example Casagrande (1954) provided the following classification of translations directed towards
purpose.
i.
Pragmatic translation: It refers to the translation of a message with a focus on accuracy of the
information meant to be conveyed in the SL form. Translators have no concern other than conveying
information in the Second Language (e.g., translation of technical and legal documents)
ii.
Aesthetic poetic translation: In this translation, the translator takes into the account of the effects,
emotion and feelings of the original language rendition, the aesthetic form (e.g. Sonnet, Heroic
Couplet, Dramatic monologue) used by the original author as well as any information in the message
(e.g., Translation of literary texts)
iii.
Ethnographic Translation: Its purpose is to explicate the cultural context of the source and the target
language versions. With this object, translators have to be sensitive to the waywords that are used
www.iosrjournals.org

68 | Page

Theory and Problems of Translation Studies

iv.
v.

vi.
vii.
viii.
ix.
x.
xi.
xii.

(e.g., Yee versus yea in American English) and must know how the words fit into the cultures that use
the SL and the TL.
Linguistic Translation: It concerns with equivalent meanings of the constituent morphemes of the
second language and with grammatical form (e.g., Machine translation).2
Phonemic translation: This attempts to produce the SL sound in the TL while at the same time
producing an acceptable paraphrase of the sense. Lefevere comes to the conclusion that although this
works moderately well in the translation of onomatopoeia, the overall result is clumsy and often devoid
of sense altogether.
Literal translation: In this the emphasis on wordforword translation distorts the sense and the
syntax of the original.
Metrical translation: Here the criterion is adopted to reproduce the metre of the SL text. This is
possible when the two languages have shared the metre.
Poetry in Prose: In this type Lefevere concludes that distortion of the sense, communicative value and
syntax of the SL text results from this method, although not to the same extent as with the literal or
metrical types of translation.
Rhymed translation: In this translation the translator enters into a double bondage of meter and
rhyme, Lefeveres conclusions here are particularly harsh, since he feels that the end product is merely
a caricature of Catullus.
Blank Verse translation: In this theory, restrictions imposed on the translator by the choice of
structure are emphasized, although the greater accuracy and higher degree or literalness obtained are
also noted.
Interpretation: Under this heading of translation the version where the substance of SL text is retained
but the form is changed, and imitations where the translator produces a poem of his own which has
only title and point of departure, if those, in common with the source text.1
This is an empirical study based upon the translation of select literary texts in English translated into
Telugu. The texts (short stories in English) selected and their translations are given in the following
tableI
TABLE I
Source Language English

Target Language Telugu

Author

Title

Translator

Title

Bhabani Bhattacharya

A Moment of Eternity

N.Venugopal

Ananta Kshanam

R.K.Narayan

Another Community

V. V.B.Rama Rao

Maroo Jaathi

Mulk Raj Anand

The Golden Watch

Kakani Chakrapani

Bangaru Gadiyaaramu

Anita Desai

The Accompanist

A.Subba Rao

Pakka Vaadyagaadu

In addition to the above, two English novels translated into Telugu are selected for this study.
They are given in the following Table II
TABLE II
Source Language English

Target Language Telugu

Author

Title

Translator

Title

R.L. Stevenson

Treasure Island
Adventures of Huckleberry
Finn

Nanduri Rama Mohana Rao

Kaanchana Dweepam

Nanduri Rama Mohana Rao

Huckleberry Finn

Mark Twain

IV.

Result:

(i) Translation is both linguistic and cultural activity and it concerned with communication of meaning. It is not
merely a work finding lexical equivalents i.e., TL equivalents of SL words, but much more, as it involves
cultural, aesthetic, ethical, social, scientific and metaphysical dimensions of SL and TL. The translator should
possess equal insights into which the text of SL is translated from which the translation is to be made and the
target language to which the translation is to be done.
If the translator does not have command over both the languages and the words do not obey his call
and lacks a feel of the language, his translation may not be put up to the mark.
Language is largely a culture oriented and therefore translators face the problem of translating certain
culture based words into another language with different culture. Colloquial expression, slang proverbs and
some dialectical expressions are difficult to translate and the equivalence of words in two or more languages is
hard to establish.
www.iosrjournals.org

69 | Page

Theory and Problems of Translation Studies

(ii) It is easy to translate from one Indian language into another Indian language because the cultural ethos is
more or less is common. But the translation from an Indian language into English is a hard task and problematic
one. For instance, in Indian languages there are honorific terms of address indicative of the social distance
between the speaker and addressee, but they do not have equivalents in English and so create problems in
translation Meeakshi Mukherjeee makes an apt observation on this subject. According to her,The act of
translation is voluntary, that is the material has been chosen by the translator himself and the prime mover is a
compelling desire to recreate.

V.

Conclusion

The translator is a writer in the language in which he is translating that is not merely competent but
creative Stressing upon the main complication and problems that arise in translation as G.N. Devy mentions:
Owing to its bilingual involvement, translation poses highly complicated problems before the literary theorists.
The most complicated and defeating problem is, what makes a good translation good? While it is also difficult
to sort out such an issue in relation to poetry or fiction, there are atleast some attempts to pressure that aesthetics
of literature can be related to some criteria as organic structure, relevant form, complexity, or
imagination.
The translation problem is more of an aesthetic problem than a purely linguistic problem. Literary
translation is not just a replication of text in another verbal system of signs. It is a replication of an ordered sub
system of signs with in a language to another correspondingly ordered subsystem of signs with in a related
language?

References
[1].
[2].
[3].
[4].
[5].
[6].
[7].
[8].
[9].
[10].
[11].
[12].
[13].
[14].
[15].
[16].
[17].
[18].
[19].
[20].
[21].
[22].
[23].

Bijay Kumar Das. The Horizon of Translation, (New Delhi: Atlantic Publishers, 1998) p.l
J.C. Catford, A Linguistic Theory of Translation, (London: Oxford University Press, 1965) p.20.
S.K. Verma in, Translation From Periphery to Centre stage, (New Delhi: Prestige Books, 1998) p.15.
K.M. George in, Translation From Periphery to Cent restage, (New Delhi: Prestige Books, 1998) p.32.
Manorama Year Book, 2003: pp.524 527.
S.S. Prabhakar Rao in, Translation From Periphery to Centresta.ge, (New Delhi: Prestige Books, 1998) p. 171.
Bijay Kumar Das, The Horizon of Translation, (New Delhi: Atlantic Publishers, 1998) p.24
Theodore Savory, The Art of Translation, (London: Jonathan Cape, 1959) pp.5759.
Eugene A. Nida, A Framework for the Analysis and Evolution of Theories of Translation. (Leiden: Drill, 1974) pp.5960.
Quoted by S.D. Tirurnala Rao: Translation from Periphery to Centrestage. (New Delhi: Prestige Books, 1998) p.75.
Casagrande, The Ends of Translation, (International Journal of American
Linguistics), (1954: 20) pp.335340.
Theodore Savory, The Art of Translation of London: Jonathan cape, 1959) pp.1823.
Quoted by Van Dijk. I9S3. pp. 3436 in The Incorporate Linguist Vol. 18 No.I. 1979, pp. 1015.
Roman Jacabson, On Linguistic Aspects of Translation. (New York: Oxford University Press, 1966) p. 233.
Susan Bassnett, Translation Studies, (London, Methuen, 1980) pp. 8182.
House, Juliane, A Model for Translation Quality Assessment (Tubingen Guntger Narr. 1977) p. 15.
Bijay Kumar Das, The Horizon of Translation,(New Delhi: Atlantic Publishers, 1998) p.39.
P.V. Dhamija, CIEFL Bulletin, New Series Vol. IV, JuneDec. 1992, I, pp. 12.
Susan Bassnett McGuire, Translation Studies, (London, Methuen, 1980) p. 109.
B.K. Das, The Horizon of Translation. (New Delhi: Atlantic Publishers, 1998) pp.3334.
Meenakshi Mukherjee, Transposition of culture, Cygnus 2: 2 (1981): p 7374.
G.N. Devy, Translation From Periphery to Centre Stage, (New Delhi: Prestige Books, 1998), pp.5256.
Amitav Ghosh, Indian Express, (1994: March), p.20.

www.iosrjournals.org

70 | Page